Bachman’s resurrects Macy’s Flower Show tradition in new location

by Richard Lutes | February 01, 2018

minneapolis — When the downtown Macy’s store here was sold to a developer and then closed its doors last March, flower lovers mourned the end of the Macy’s Flower Show, an annual rite of spring for more than 50 years.

Bachman’s, a local, family-owned floral, gift, home and garden business, helped produce the Flower Show, first partnering with Dayton’s Department Store in 1960. It was continued under Marshall Field’s ownership and later Macy’s, with about 65,000 visitors attending each year’s show.

Bachman’s created this floral replica of Lady Liberty’s torch for the All-American garden at the 2016 Macy’s Flower Show in Minneapolis. “We enjoyed working on the Flower Show for more than a half century with the team at Macy’s,” said Bachman’s chief executive officer Dale Bachman in a news release. He served as head gardener for the show for decades and even got married at the 1973 show. “We will remember our Flower Show experiences fondly.”

The tradition will be revived this year by Bachman’s on March 25 through April 8 at the Galleria Mall in Edina, MN, a first-ring suburb. Dubbed “Spring is in the Air,” the new “flower experience” will feature a series of displays and vignettes with tulips, hyacinths and a wide range of springtime flowers, all being prepared to bloom early for the show.

“This is exciting for us,” said Bachman. “We certainly experienced disappointment [last year] from our guests, and from our team members — they saw it as a creative challenge every year. This is an opportunity to start something new.”

There will be floor-to-ceiling arrangements, garden beds and raised installations throughout the main floor, the lower level, and the Galleria’s newly completed wing. According to a news release, the free show promises an “immersive transformation [of Galleria] celebrating the arrival of spring.”

“We are already working on coaxing an early blooming schedule for a range of spring floral favorites,” Bachman said.

The idea for the new event began after Bachman’s and the Galleria both participated in the “Art in Bloom” fashion show at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts last year.

“It was a little organic,” said Galleria’s general manager Wendy Eisenberg in a news release. “We got to know each other, and one thing led to another. We started talking about the possibilities last summer.”

While it won’t be quite the same experience as past Macy’s Flower Shows in the downtown eighth-floor auditorium, it will definitely provide a much-needed breath of spring to many winter-weary Minnesotans.